September 20, 2012

Congresswoman Lois Capps (CA-23) joined her colleagues in the Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition (SEEC) on the floor of the House of Representatives urging the Speaker to immediately renew tax incentives for wind energy. The renewable energy Production Tax Credit (PTC) provides an income tax credit for each kilowatt-hour of electricity produced by a renewable energy source, including wind, and has been a key factor in the expansion of clean energy over the last decade.Unfortunately, the PTC is set to expire on December 31st of this year without Congressional action. A recent report from the U.S. Department of Energy highlighted the importance of extending the PTC to ensure growth in wind energy production and manufacturing.

With precious few weeks left in the Congressional calendar, it’s time for the Speaker of the House to stop holding bipartisan legislation to extend tax incentives for wind energy hostage,” said Capps. “The country cannot afford to wait any longer to develop wind energy projects that will create jobs and move our country forward to a cleaner, healthier future.”

In May, Capps spoke about the PTC’s role in creating jobs on the Central Coast with employees at Infinity Wind Power of Santa Barbara. She has co-sponsored bipartisan legislation, the American Renewable Energy Production Tax Credit Extension Act of 2011 (H.R. 3307) to extend the PTC through 2016. She also wrote to the Speaker in May urging him to bring this legislation to a vote. Earlier this month, the Senate Finance Committee included extension of the PTC when reporting a bipartisan tax bill just before Congress adjourned for the August district work period, but the House has yet to act.

Text of Capps’ floor statement is included below.

Mr. Speaker, last month our nation reached a significant milestone in the growth of home grown, renewable energy.

The United States surpassed 50 gigawatts of installed wind power capacity – enough to power over 13 million American households a year.

This is a major accomplishment for an industry predicted to deliver only a quarter of that amount a decade ago.

We should be celebrating this success brought about by innovation, hard work, and smart policies.

Sadly, the celebration may be a short one if Congress doesn’t act swiftly to continue the bipartisan Production Tax Credit – a key factor in wind power’s expansion.

My constituents – at companies like Clipper Wind and Infinity Wind Power – have told me that letting the PTC lapse would devastate their industry and eliminate thousands of jobs.

It’s time to give these companies certainty by taking up a multiyear extension of the PTC without delay.

Our country cannot afford to pull the rug out from under a true American success story

Let’s renew the PTC now and maintain our leadership in transitioning to cleaner, safer sources of energy.